Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-14

ment, but 1t actually draws on the Otha
sections for its educational and legal sus
tenance! l invite the attention of tn
legislature to this inequality, and sugges
that an appropriate remedy be provides
for its rectifcation.
| SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY AND ASYLUM LANDS
l. Under the operation !, f the act of Apr
u, 1888, the land board has sold of tn
school lands 100000 acres, of the uni
versity lands 2l,000 acres, and of tn
asylum lands 900 acres, at an averag,
price of S2:per acre. These lands hav
been sold to actual settlers only. In tn
act referred TO is found the authority t.
| lease.
| would remind the legislature that it i
no easy matter to change the ideas ant
habits OF people when those ideas Gnt
habits have been INDUCED in for age
without hiudrance or restrsint. And a
no former administration even attempted
to utilize the peoples grass, or derive
rental from the unoccupied lands of thu
| state government, it is not to be won
dered at that the laws passed during M
| term of office, on this most importan
/ question, should excite some little oppo
! sltion from interested parties, and cause
/ NAS44l " CG'sh I!ASAlS W oNOlU anu UtlChI
| these laws, if possible. People who have
been sccustomed to Craze their cattle free
OF charge on the state lands may be SLOW
to approve the order of things which
aims to make them pay tor benefits con.
ferred; bat l have no doubt that in q
very short period the principle of dealing
with the state as one would with an indi.
vIdual, will be universally recognized. and
that stockmen and others will willingly,
aye, gladly, render to the commonwealth
fair equivalent for those privileges
which they have SO long enjoyed gratis.
There is no penalty affixed by The act
OF 1888 Tor using the public lands with
cut authority, nor is there adequate
means provided to enable those who
would execute said law to successfully do
30. The enclosure act OF 1884 was not
intended or designed to aid or amend
the act of 1888, but was simply enacted
With the view of preventing Illegal fence
cutting.
1t was asserted and urged by fence cut
tiers and their apologistS thet the large
capitalist stocG-raisers were monOpoliz-
ing all the grass and enclosing vast areas
Of land to which they had no legal right,
unto meet the emergency OF the time
the enclosure act YVES passed al the spec
ial session of 1884.
II will be remembered that the eXecu-
tive then urged that the unlawful enclos-
Ure OF pablo inds be made felony,
fence cutting having already been de-
clared 3 penitentiary offense. Failing in
this Effort, the executive suggested that
the crime denounced in the act of 1854
should be prosecuted in some interior
jurisdiction. All these efforts, however,
failed, and the act became law without
attaching to it any of those necessary
provisions. The fault is rot in the sys-
TEN of leasing. The defect is solely and
entirely in the law and creation of the
board.
1t was urged by thoughtless persons
that the G vernon should take the army
and by force destroy these supposed lille
gal fences, thus judging for himself 1ues-
lions that could only be determined by
the courts. This, TOO, at the very time
when the courts were deciding that the
law on this subject had not been VIC
lated. II Is hardly necessary 10 say this
invitation was promptly defined; for IS
well might it be insisted that
where notorious murderer was
acquitted by the jury, or
where it was evident he would be,
the executive should take him from the
courts and have him executed. The time
mas no yet arrived when, in governments
protesting to be republican, the governor
OF state can be invested with authority
to determine beforehand questions that
belong Of right to the tribunals Of the
country, and hope such a day will never
come. If it should, for onu Will neither
seek nor accept any such authority. Even
the action here referred to was urged in
the face of the fact that proposition to
engraft such authority in the bill (ACt of
1880 was promptly voted down, as it
should have been, by your predecessors.
Imagine, if you can, the executive of
Texas committing by force of arms the
identical offenses which would send other
citizens to the penitentiary, and for the
discovery of whose perpetra Ors he was
at that moment Offering large rewards.
THE LEASE Jaw.
MANY objections have been advanced,
alb initio, against the principle of leasing
our public lands. 1t is safe to say that
at least one-half of our vast domain will
not be sold at remuneratiye prices
within the next fifty years, and unless
they are leased the state caunot possibly
derive any revenue from them. That the
lands are now held al too high figure l
have not the slightest doubt. | an also
well satisfied that large proportion OF
them should be placed on the market at
less than 50 per acre, the present price.
Better for the state were the scsle revised,
and better for those in search Of homes
were the figures so reduced as to hold out
an inducement to the actual settler to
people and cultivate our untenanted ter
ritory. Imperfect as the system IS now,
we find that the schools derive an annual
ard an annual interest Of S200, 900 en-
sales.
The constitution and laws set apart one
half the public lsDds for the benefit Of
Tree schools. l have never known las it
was done when had no connection with
he administration of the government)
low or in what name" the schools OBJ
aimed their half or like quantity for the !
ands given TO build the new cspitol, and
which were so under the fifty centS-an |
lcre act.
Much Of the confusion arising in the !
disposition of the lands, both by sales
md leases, has been caused by the
lumber of persons composing the land
BOARD. Conceding that each member has
,een equslly patriotic ard equ8llY faith
nj to the public trust, from the common
standpoint and judgment of each, still
he differences in opinion which have fire.
luently arisen have led to constant
harges in the mode of selling and leas-
ng, always resulting in compromises of
ONE kind and seldom rejecting the
pinions of single member. 1t
you'd be far better to have this branch of
he government in charge Ct some capable
nd trustworthy person who would be d.
Getty responsible to the governor for his